Almost $200 to Add No Expiration to Tickets?!

[WaltD4Me]

Holy cow, I was looking into adding No Expiration to some 8 day base tickets and to add the no expiration to them is $190 per ticket! I thought it was like $50-$60 to add on no expiration? I double checked to make sure I wasn't looking at park hoppers with no expiration or anything, but no, an 8 day base ticket with no expiration is $190 more than an 8 day base ticket without no expiration. Was no expiration always this much more? $190 extra is ridiculous.

 

[ADP]

Holy cow, I was looking into adding No Expiration to some 8 day base tickets and to add the no expiration to them is $190 per ticket! I thought it was like $50-$60 to add on no expiration? I double checked to make sure I wasn't looking at park hoppers with no expiration or anything, but no, an 8 day base ticket with no expiration is $190 more than an 8 day base ticket without no expiration. Was no expiration always this much more? $190 extra is ridiculous.

I had the same reaction Lisa. I think the price for the no expiration option has increased over the years. We typically buy APs because of the DVC discount. It's actually a much better deal for us to buy APs instead of a 10-day no expiration ticket. With the $100 DVC discount the AP is almost the same price as the 10-day no expiration ticket.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

WOW! That IS pricey! I don't know off-hand the prices for annual passes but it seems like you're getting close with that $190 add-on. Sure, that only lasts for 1 year but if you want to come within that time period, it seems like a no-brainer. But if you're not ... yikes.

 

[MomofKatie]

The no-expire option has gone up dramatically in the past several years. We got 10 day hoppers with WP&M back in 2005, the first year of the MYW ticket structure. We added no-expire for, I think, a bit less than $100+tax each ticket back then- the same option today would cost approx $240 each ticket.

No-expire is not a good deal anymore for most scenarios. People need to really crunch the numbers to see if it makes sense for them.

**EDITING TO ADD- For anyone going twice in a one-year period, it makes more sense to get an annual pass. The price of the AP is $552.74; any Park Hopper with no-expire over 7 days costs MORE than an AP!!**

 

[Cheshire Figment]

If you go to the locked sticky Everything About WDW Tickets in the TPA&S Forum, Post #18-B, you can see a chart of cost per day with or without each of the options. An easy way to get to the sticky is by clicking on the link in my signature. The ticket sticky is your friend!

 

[NancyIL]

I used to buy the 10-day non-expiring park hopper from Undercover Tourist - just before ticket prices increased each year. Then, per Cheshire Figment's excellent advice, I used the ticket once to establish the current gate price, and upgraded to an annual pass without paying more. The first time I did that, the gate price of the NE hopper was $2 more than the AP, and the CM at Guest Relations in Epcot actually gave me back $2! After that, the price difference between the 10-day NE hopper and the AP was larger, so I no longer buy it for purposes of upgrading to an AP. I will use my 10-day non-expiring hopper when I don't have an AP and want to go to WDW (or Disneyland) for a few days at a time.

I wish I had bought more 10-day non-expiring park hoppers when they first came out in 2005. The price at Undercover Tourist for a 10-day non-expiring park hopper with 5 Water Park Fun & More visits was $353!

 

[WaltD4Me]

I was just shocked that it had gone up so much...don't know why I was shocked now that I think about it though. :eyeroll:

The reason I was looking was because my brother's family is going to WDW in October, then we are all going on a DCL cruise in March, so I thought they could get an non-expiring ticket in October to use for a day in March. No point in getting everyone an AP, they could get one day tickets for $90 a pop I guess, heck, even 2 one day tickets would be cheaper than the non-expire option, but I doubt they'll do that, so probably no WDW in March, maybe we'll check out Gatorland or something.

 

[ADP]

I wish I had bought more 10-day non-expiring park hoppers when they first came out in 2005. The price at Undercover Tourist for a 10-day non-expiring park hopper with 5 Water Park Fun & More visits was $353!

Very true. Just goes to show you how fast ticket prices have gone up. I don't think anyone blames Disney for raising ticket prices. They have a stellar product and people fill the parks. The problem is the rate of the increases; too much too fast. Take Disney Dining for instance. when the Dining Plan came out in 2006 it was $32.99 for the basic plan (tip included and appitizer) and today it's $51.54 (no tip included and dessert replaces app). You can't tell me food has gone up that much in 6 years.

 

[doconeill]

I don't know if it was ever as cheap as $50-60 to add no-expire to a 8-day ticket, but I don't know the exact amounts in 2006 or 2007 after they were introduced, but it was as much as $180 back then for a 10-day NE option.

According to AllEars, in 2008 it was $130.

(Woohoo! 12k posts!)

 

[WaltD4Me]

I don't know if it was ever as cheap as $50-60 to add no-expire to a 8-day ticket, but I don't know the exact amounts in 2006 or 2007 after they were introduced, but it was as much as $180 back then for a 10-day NE option.

According to AllEars, in 2008 it was $130.

(Woohoo! 12k posts!)

In 2005 I bought a 10 non-expiring ticket, I could swear it was only $80 extra.
I could be wrong, but I know me and I wouldn't have paid much more than that.

Remember the good old days when the non-expiring part was included?

 

[doconeill]

In 2005 I bought a 10 non-expiring ticket, I could swear it was only $80 extra.
I could be wrong, but I know me and I wouldn't have paid much more than that.

Remember the good old days when the non-expiring part was included?

Hmm...you may be right there...I didn't think to look at 2005, but I believe the option price went up quickly in 2006 and 2007...

AllEars indicates that the option went for $10-$100 then. On Jan. 1st 2006 the top end went up to $135, and $155 in August.

 

[wdwscout]

I found my price comparison and receipt for our 2005 10 day Park Hoppers with no expiration. (yeah- I keep everything! )
A 10 day park hopper that expired after 14 days was $247.08
Adding the no expiration option brought the cost to $353.58

So in 2005- no expir cost $106.50. Quite a bit of money even then.

Comparing apples to apples- today those same 10 day hopper prices are:
$354.95 & $576.95 w/no expiration
So the no expiration option has increased considerably more than the ticket prices.

Over $200 more PER PERSON for this ticket 7 years later.

 

[doconeill]

I found my price comparison and receipt for our 2005 10 day Park Hoppers with no expiration. (yeah- I keep everything! )
A 10 day park hopper that expired after 14 days was $247.08
Adding the no expiration option brought the cost to $353.58

So in 2005- no expir cost $106.50. Quite a bit of money even then.

Comparing apples to apples- today those same 10 day hopper prices are:
$354.95 & $576.95 w/no expiration
So the no expiration option has increased considerably more than the ticket prices.

Over $200 more PER PERSON for this ticket 7 years later.

I wonder how much Disney ends up making off guests who don't understand the math of No Expiration and get it just because "it seemed like a good idea at the time"...

 

[WaltD4Me]

I wonder how much Disney ends up making off guests who don't understand the math of No Expiration and get it just because "it seemed like a good idea at the time"...

You might not know, but I am very sure Disney knows the answer to this.

 

[kaligal]

All tickets used to be good forever. No expiration. No extra cost for it.

When they rolled out the extra charges, they called it, "Magic Your Way." They said that they were doing it because so many guests wanted that.

I don't know about other people, but I know I wasn't complaining to Disney, "Hey, I want to pay for the thing I'm now getting for free! Why can't you charge me more?!"

That's what they said, though.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

When they started the MYW tickets they actually lowered the prices. Before that all multi-day tickets were automatically Park Hoppers with No Expiration.

At that time they made it possible to buy tickets of up to ten days (rather than seven) and gave options. The price for a seven day hopper with NE was only about 4% higher than a seven day ticket prior to 2005, which would have been a "normal" price increase. But if you did not want a hopper, or only needed a ticket for a single trip you paid less.

(And adding the WPF&M was about the same as having an old Park Hopper Plus or World Hopper.)

 

[topolino]

If you go to the locked sticky Everything About WDW Tickets in the TPA&S Forum, Post #18-B, you can see a chart of cost per day with or without each of the options. An easy way to get to the sticky is by clicking on the link in my signature. The ticket sticky is your friend!

Yeah, but it's also interesting to open up a new discussion about topics that have already been discussed in a locked sticky.

This is, after all, a discussion board.


OP, that's why we usually buy APs. Granted, we get a DVC discount, but it gets to the point where for only a small amount more we can get a whole year out of a ticket instead of a week and a half.

It also motivates us to go back multiple times in a year. The conversations usually starts off something like this, "You know, we have these APs all paid for, it'd be a shame to not get our money's worth out of them...". Soon after we're booking airfare.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I'm not saying it is a bad thing to open up a new discussion, I was just saying where people could get detailed information. Note in my signature where I work, and I do keep the sticky up to date.

To continue the discussion, there is no such thing as a "DVC Discount" related to any Annual Passes (No matter what Member Services says).

There are three separate categories (or price ranges) of Annual Passes. The lowest price range is for Florida Residents. There is a higher price range for DVC Members. And the highest price range is "Tourist", which is people who do not qualify for either of the other categories.

And of the 12 possible DVC Member AP types, only one is exactly a $100 difference. The price difference ranges between $35 and $125.

Regular and Premium Annual Passes have the same privileges, no matter which price range they are in.

The major problem with Annual Passes concerns when they are in a drawer more than 100 miles from Disney World and they whine a lot and scream:

Use Me!

 

[chaoscent]

Yeah, I had that problem last year. I did 4 trips, because I had an AP. Why dear, it isn't going to cost me anything!! I have points at my DVC and an annual pass and the airfare isn't that high. & that was how I spent a few extra bucks last year at Disney. However, my AP ran out and I haven't had a trip since sept & my next trip isn't until Sept. Penny